1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to instruments for impacting an object, and is directed more particularly to an iron type golf club head weighted for improved performance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Attempts at improving the performance of golf clubs has produced a myriad of concepts, directed for the most part to improved distance through which a hit ball will travel and improved accuracy in both putting and driving.
One aspect of improvement has been in the area of weight distribution in iron type heads and one approach that has been used is peripheral, or perimeter, weighting, that is, locating weight around the periphery, or perimeter, of the club head. Peripheral weighting provides a cavity, or recess, centrally located in the rear of the club head. An example of peripheral weighting may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,813, issued Nov. 11, 1986 to Karsten Solheim.
Others, rather than dispersing weight around the periphery of a club head, have elected to concentrate weight midway of the club head, or at a point approximately behind the center of percussion. An example of such an arrangement may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,087,685, issued July 20, 1937 to Clarence W. Hackney. The Hackney club head is essentially a flat blade with a bulbous weight member on the rear of the blade.
Still others have combined the perceived advantages of peripheral weighting with the perceived additional advantages of distributing weight within the cavity formed by peripheral weighting. Examples of such club heads may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,437, issued June 14, 1974 in the name of S. William Winquist; U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,808, issued Oct. 26, 1982, in the name of Doyle D. Jernigan; U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,172, issued May 2, 1989 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,252, issued May 1, 1990, respectively in the name of Anthony J. Antonious. The Winquist patent shows a club head provided with perimeter weighting and, in addition, integral ribbing extending within the cavity at the rear of the club head, the ribbing being in the form of letters or symbols. Jernigan disposes a number of small weights along the bottom edge of the cavity and fills the cavity with epoxy. The object of Jernigan's invention is to tailor a club to an individual golfer's swing. The Antonious patents show the use of perimeter weighting and weight members within the cavity, the weight members within the cavity being spaced from the center of percussion. The Antonious arrangement is said to assist the player most particularly with respect to miss-hit balls, that is, balls struck off the center of percussion of the club head.
In Applicant's co-pending application, referred to above, there is shown and described a golf club head having a peripheral mass formed on the rear surface and extending therefrom to form a cavity. In addition, there is provided a weight portion disposed in the cavity behind the center of percussion. The peripheral mass extends around the entire periphery of the club head.
It is deemed beneficial to provide a generally similar club structure for more accurate players, in which a greater mass is concentrated behind the center of percussion. At the same time, it is also beneficial to leave undisturbed the total weight of the club. Accordingly, to add mass behind the center of percussion, it is desirable to reduce mass elsewhere, namely, from the peripheral mass.